A captive bird

[Desmond Chan]

70-300 f4.5-5.6 VR II @ 300 on D700 hand-held. All natural light. ISO 1000 f5.6 1/30s.

I know, I know. It's captive and no self-respect bird photog would bother :) But, a local conservatory needs visitors or it could be closed forever. So I paid it a visit. Found some pretty birds there and most of them are free flying, too.

Slight crop for composition purpose and darkened the background.


Comments welcome !

Feel free to id it.

[PeterCollins]

personally i dont mind captive birds, of course its nice to take pictures of them as nature intended, but sometimes its simply not possible

Bravo for supporting a worthwhile cause

Re the picture, Immaculate eye contact and love the face details, nice smooth BG too, would be a nice one for the collection. Nicely done

[Dave Mills]

Hi Desmond, Thanks for telling us where you shot the bird but IMO the location doesn't have a bearing. Zoo shots are commonly seen and are no different.
All the techs on this are well handled. I might ask for a bit more room on top and the right side. A small crop on the left is also an option. Good sharpness and generally well handled!

[Peter Farrell]

Excellent close up. Beautiful Colors and great detail.
Peter

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Love the look back pose, the face looks very sharp and very detailed too. Nice job handholding at 1/30s. I might try to tone down the yellow just a bit.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Desmond Amazingly sharp for the low shutter speed !! Agree on the extra room up top !!

I enjoy shooting these guys any place I find them and find nothing wrong with going after captives, lost of times they are more challenging because of the settings !!!

[Rachel Hollander]

Desmond _ I really like this image the focus is spot on and the color looks good. I'm seeing a little green ghosting on the right edge of the beak and then also in the black background in the lower right quadrant that I find distracting.

[William Malacarne]

Desmond

Suffice it to say it is a very fine picture. It is what we call a Blue & Gold Macaw here in the USA. Some parts of the world call it a Blue & Yellow. Scientific it is Ara ararauna. They are mostly from South America but a few from Central America.
Bill

[Lance Peters]

Hi Desmond - it is a gorgeous bird whichever way you look at it.
Sharp as a tack - like the darkened BG - Might just darken a couple of spots were the green still shows through a little brightly.
Good show :)

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Beautiful portrait of this blue and gold macaw, lots of details and pleasing colors. Great eye contact too.

[Desmond Chan]

Thanks guys for the comments and suggestions ! It was taken indoor and so it wasn't that bright. And luckily the macaw was cooperative enough not move one single bit while I took this picture. Thank you, William for the id.